What does the German people think of Friedrich Merz's first half-year in power?
Judging by the municipal and mayoral elections in the country's most populous state, his CDU has not lost ground.
The party holds, according to polling station surveys, its position as the state's largest and gets, apparently, almost exactly the same result as five years ago, just over 34 percent, reports WDR.
But the result does not make the party rejoice. The high-nationalist Alternative for Germany (AFD) is moving strongly forward – from 5 to just over 16 percent – and CDU's minister-president in Nordrhein-Westfalen Hendrik Wüst, says at the party's election watch that the result shows that there is much to ponder.
We cannot rest on our laurels. Nor can my party, which so clearly won the election, he says according to Rheinische Post.
Mayoral candidates
AFD, which does not have any mayors in the state, may now get such posts. In several places, a second round of voting will be held as no candidate has received more than half of the votes, and in at least two cities, Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg, an AFD candidate can win.
AFD's leader in the state, Martin Vincentz, says according to WDR that the election shows that the people want "much more" of his party.
It was a referendum on which direction our country should take. And those who ignore the electorate are punished by the voters.
The Social Democrats are declining
The Greens almost halve their support, from 20 to 12 percent, while Merz's coalition partner in Berlin, the Social Democratic SPD, continues to lose votes. With just over 22 percent of the votes, a small decline since 2020, the SPD is still the second largest party in the state.
The result does not please me, of course. We could not curb the decline, says CDU's party leader Bärbel Bas, who comes from Duisburg, to WDR.
Perhaps she can at least be glad that the SPD retains power in Friedrich Merz's hometown Arnsberg-Niedereimer.
